As someone passionate about blending artistic principles with business and society, I am excited to share that I am in the final draft stages of completing my first book, "The Business Artist." In this book, I delve into the challenges of creation in today's world, the unintended consequences of data-ism and optimization, and how to embark on the bold pathway of the business artist.
My experience in facilitation has revealed the striking parallels it shares with the journey of an artist. These overlaps and challenges served as a key motivation behind the creation of Meahana.
The word "facilitate" itself derives from the Latin term "facilis," meaning "easy" or "to make easy. "However, just as creating a song, painting a masterpiece, or delivering a captivating performance is far from easy, facilitating in today's hybrid world presents its own set of challenges. The artist's journey is renowned for its struggles, and similarly, facilitators face obstacles along their path. In this blog, I will weave together artistic metaphors to unravel the obstacles faced by facilitators and illuminate creative solutions.
Inadequate Tools: The Challenge of Impact
Facilitators, akin to sculptors, face the daunting task of molding unyielding clay. However, they often find themselves limited by tools ill-suited for their artistic vision. Whether it's using an unstructured learning whiteboard to drive structured workshop goals or relying on shallow audience response tools that lack depth, these inadequate tools hinder the facilitator's ability to achieve their objectives effectively.
Illusory Inclusivity: Difficult to Lift Every Voice
Facilitators, as conductors of collaboration, strive to bring together diverse voices into a harmonious symphony. Like a maestro leading an orchestra, they aspire to give each instrument its moment to shine. However, achieving true inclusivity proves to be a challenge. Ensuring that every voice is heard and valued becomes a delicate balancing act, where even the softest notes must find their place in the grand symphony of ideas.
Lack of Consistency and Scale: Curating a Collection of Art
Facilitation, much like curating an art gallery, demands consistency and scale. Just as an art curator aims to maintain a cohesive collection, facilitators seek to uphold the integrity of their methodologies across different sessions and teams. However, without a guide to navigate the vast gallery, achieving consistency and scale becomes a daunting task. The challenge lies in organizing and aligning facilitation techniques to create a seamless experience. Without purpose-built tools, facilitators face an uphill battle in ensuring that their techniques and best practices are consistently applied across every session.
The Captivity of Takeaways: Let the Music Play
Imagine a band gathered in a recording studio, pouring their heart and soul into creating music that resonates deeply. However, despite their talent and dedication, their songs remain trapped within the confines of the studio, never reaching the ears of the world. Similarly, the insights and solutions generated during facilitated sessions often suffer a similar fate. They are like exquisite lyrics and melodies that never reverberate beyond the walls of the session, unable to create a lasting impact beyond those present.
Facilitators, as the artists of collaboration, seek to create impactful experiences through their craft. Like artists, we, as professional facilitators, have encountered the very challenges mentioned above, hindering our artistic expression.
This is why we embarked on the journey of creating Meahana, a meticulously designed platform that confronts each obstacle head-on. Our intuitive interactions, created by facilitators for facilitators, strike the perfect balance between simplicity and sophistication, offering a suite of powerful tools. Meahana serves as an artist’s studio, unlocking the facilitator that resides within everyone, effortlessly guiding the process of creativity, crafting ideas and taking action in any environment. Together, let us embark on this artistic journey, transcending the challenges and transforming them into opportunities for collaborative masterpieces.
